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Oakland Raiders Will Be in the Market for Tight End as Injuries Mount

August 14th, 2014 at 7:34 AM By Nicholas Gill

The Oakland Raiders' tight end position has taken several hits because of injury in the past weeks. First, David Ausberry had a knee procedure that has put him out indefinitely. Second, the Raiders have lost tight endNick Kasa to a knee injury during their joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys.

“Kasa, the preliminary reports are an ACL, which if that was the case, it would probably mean that he would be done for the year,” head coach Dennis Allen said.

Allen is still unsure about Ausberry's status as he recovers from the knee procedure.

“He is moving around, which is a good sign, but exactly what that timeline is, I have no idea yet,” Allen said of Ausberry.

The injuries have left the Raiders with only four healthy tight ends on the roster. Mychal Rivera moved into the starting role with the Ausberry injury. Behind him, Oakland has Brian Leonhardt, Jake Murphy, and Scott Simonson. All three of those players are undrafted free agents, with only Leonhardt having any experience, heading into his second season. He was a part of the the practice squad a season ago, but has yet to see any regular season action.

Having four healthy tight ends is enough for now, but the Raiders cannot be comfortable going into the regular season with such inexperienced and unproven players. They are now looking into the possibility to adding to the tight end position.

“Yeah, that’s obviously something that we have to consider, and we have to look at and see if there is somebody that we can add to the roster,” Allen said of adding a tight end.